It begins...

Made it! Now the real work begins.

So yesterday I spent the day at the Project Mexico office in Chula Vista. Geoff Bray, an assistant director went through orientation, things to expect, what to do in certain circumstances and so on. I went through quite a bit of paperwork, and then worked doing some organizing in their warehouse. In the evening Geoff drove me down across the border, and I was able to see a lot of the boys. Geoff then led me on another tour of the grounds. In June, I was able to get a bit of a tour, but it takes on a whole different meaning when you know you’ll be here for the next 9 months.

My room is quite nice actually. I have a bed, a dresser, a desk with a computer chair, a rocking chair and kind of closet/shelf. The real luxury though, is that I have my own bathroom. No waiting in line for showers, or the bathroom. I know that I will really appreciate that over the time I’m here.

It looks like for the first bit I’ll be doing some construction work, and manual labor until I can get my Spanish up to par. Once I’m able to communicate efficiently then I’ll slowly be moved into a more involved role with the boys. So far today though, I got to play baseball with a few of the boys on the basketball court. I have to learn the Mexican rules for baseball though, I must have been doing something wrong, because no matter what I did they kept beating me. :-)

At the moment I’ve got a bit of a break. I had to take the wood framing off of the cement frame for a foundation for a generator. After taking off the framing, Alex (the other intern who has been here since last November) and I filled in the middle (a 6ft x 6ft square, 18 inches deep) with gravel. Later, we’ll be filling the remainder with sand and cement so that we’ll have a solid foundation.

In all the things I read yesterday there was a one quote that stuck with me. Surprisingly, this very quote was tacked to the back of my room door.

-“We think we’re coming to give… but we’re partially coming to get. Our challenge is to not stop giving when we stop getting.”

May that be my prayer.

Under His Mercy,

Joel

PS – I’m putting a list together of supporters, that I can give it to Project Mexico. This way, when PM sends out newsletters, everyone can hear what's happening at St. Innocent's. If you would like me to add you to the list please email me and let me know.

look2theheights@gmail.com